Scribbles and notes and even some pictures

Menu

Camping Woes

I hate to discriminate against particular days of the week, but Mondays truly do suck (just for full disclosure, it took a lot for me to stop at “suck” instead of the longer, more inappropriate phrase I had in my mind). My only solace is that Zach has the rest of the week off, which means we’re going camping again (which also means no blog for the rest of the week).

Camping. I love the great outdoors, but there’s something about camping that makes me both love and hate it. We spend all this money to basically live like we’re homeless, which seems odd to me. Not only do I still have to cook and clean, but I have to cook and clean in the woods with no running water and worry about bears. Not to mention, the part I love most about camping, which is getting away from humans, is harder to do than one might think. Campgrounds are loud and full and you have neighbors. I don’t want neighbors. If I have to have neighbors, I’d rather be at home, where there are walls and fences blocking my view of their existence. We went camping a couple weekends ago, and we did dispersal camping, which means, no amenities, and you’re not on top of each other. In fact, we couldn’t see anyone else.

But we could hear them.

Until midnight, drunken arshole college kids played house music (HOUSE music!) and yelled and screamed like they were trying to call their pigs back to the farm. Farther from us on that same side, another drunk group played loud music and screamed, in what I imagine was a competition with the closer group. On the other side of us, we could hear a family celebrating a birthday, and then someone playing a guitar and singing for a couple of hours (which, by the way, I wasn’t annoyed at, the dude had a nice voice and played well, and not even their child was screaming – so they win). I tried to imagine I was just at a music festival that I went to on purpose, just to try and make myself a little less annoyed.

The stars were pretty though. I don’t get to look at stars often. I wonder if the drunk people noticed the stars.

So, if you’re going to be camping for this 4th of July here are my tips:

DO:
Partake in alcohol, if you like, by all means, let loose! I take my flask. And if you’re doing drugs, be careful and don’t wander off.
DON’T:
Get so wasted you’re screaming at the top of your lungs or doing the redneck “pig call.” It’s annoying.
DO:
Bring your instruments! Have an awesome jam session. I love hearing campfire music. What better stage than nature? Also, helps to keep your mind off the bears that are probably watching you.
DON’T:
Bring a DJ. Seriously. Why? If you want to throw a house party, find a house. Someone will have parents away, I’m sure. It’s also more fun in a house, because there are beds, and readily available paramedics.

This shouldn’t have to be said, but also, obey fire rules. We really don’t need anymore fires than we already get. I would like to have trees in the forest, please.